The Ornamental Kitchen Garden

This book offers a practical guide to a new style of gardening. In fact, it is not a new style but a return to traditional methods - found in gardens all over the world from medieval monasteries to Victorian kitchen gardens - when fruit, flowers and vegetables were planted in the same beds in a delightful and productive mix. Not only does this sort of garden look good and provide constant variety all year round, but it is ideally suited to small gardens as well as large. It attracts plenty of wildlife - especially birds and insects - which helps to keep pests under control, while the different species growing side by side make the most of the soil. Geoff Hamilton, BBC TV's popular gardening expert and the presenter of "The Ornamental Kitchen Garden" television series on which the book is based, tells you everything you need to know to create an ornamental kitchen garden from scratch, or to transform an existing garden. He explains, with the help of drawings, how to plan your garden with paths, beds, patio and garden pool. Using step-by-step photos and easy-to-follow drawings, he shows how to make all the essential components: brick and scree paths, arbours and pergolas, cold frames, cloches and compost bins, as well as how to lay lawns. He gives detailed descriptions of the decorative plants - perennials and annuals, bulbs and herbs, climbers, vegetables, ornamental trees and shrubs, fruit trees and bushes - some old favourties and some the latest varieties - which would be most suitable for this sort of garden, explaining how to cultivate them and to propagate further plants. A chapter on the seasons has colour photographs for the months of spring, summer and autumn illustrating many of the plants flowering or fruiting at the time, accompanied by month-by-month reminders of jobs to be done.

Carrots grow in the arms of blue trailing lobelia and spinach pokes through lipstick-red impatiens in this organic Eden that is beautiful and productive. Drawing on his BBC-TV series of the same title, the British author does away with the neat rows in rectangular beds that ape commercial farming's monoculture and promote chemical dependency. The untamed diversity of plants Hamilton advocates discourages disease and invites natural predators for pest control. Relevant information for the home gardener is provided in full: planning and design; construction of patios, paths, etc.; and various cultivation practices. Unfortunately, text and photos highlight individual plants-perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs and fruits (Zones 5-8)-while stinting on specific suggestions for combining plants-the very subject at hand. British vocabulary (e.g., courgettes for zucchini) may confuse some readers, and predictable plant selections won't excite adventurous gardening cooks. But all in all, this is a convincing presentation for a compelling environmental garden style.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The ornamental kitchen garden is one that grows flowers, fruits, and vegetables together in the same plot, a method first used by medieval gardeners. Hamilton, host of BBC-TV's Ornamental Kitchen Garden series, gives instructions on designing both small and large gardens and on constructing patios, paths, arbors, pools, pergolas, cold frames, walls, fences, parterres, compost bins, and cloches. In the chapter "The Gardening Calendar," he suggests plants suitable to grow at various times of the year. A chapter on decorative plants gives instructions on growing trees, shrubs, border plants, bulbs, annuals, climbers, perennials, and pool and bog plants. There is also data on attracting wildlife and on containers. Other chapters cover herbs, fruits, and vegetables. There are color and black-and-white drawings and color photographs throughout this truly comprehensive guide. George Cohen